SteveR Loc: Michigan

I got a MacPro a few months ago and put Windows 10 on it. Yesterday was the first time I wanted to download photos to a flashdrive. I pulled up the photos from the photo section in the big square that pops up that includes flipboard and microsoft edge. I went to "share" and there was nothing that said "send to." The only options were to send to email, twitter, etc. I looked all over and even googled and couldn't figure it out, so I called Microsoft Support. The first level of support told me that I needed to have another level of technical support manually scrub my registry and check my drivers for a cost of $110, which would be collected when finished. After doing his thing, he pulled the pictures up from another location, selected alternative photos, and pulled up a send menu. This had nothing to do with scrubbing my registry, etc., which I had been told was necessary to fix my problem. I told them so....and I told them that I had been misled and refused to give them my credit card information. So....beware when calling these companies that are supposedly legitimate Microsoft support staff.

RobertW Loc: Breezy Point, New York

Same type scam when registering an Amazon Fire!!!

Rongnongno Loc: FL

I dealt with MS support and never I have been told to 'scrub' anything nor have I paid for their support.

As to 'send to... there are zillions of links out there using any search engine...

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/add-customize-send-to-menu-windows

From a simple search.... Your solution for the missing 'send to' is as 'Added bonus'

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

The warning is valuable. There are unscrupulous charlatans masquerading as legitimate support for many large corporations including Microsoft, Yamaha, Apple and others. I actually bit one time and it cost me $200. I don't know the technology, but they have figured out a way to hijack some of the Apple support calls.

MSFT and Apple both support do charge. They tell you that up front when you install their product. Now HP does the same.

The easiest way to move your photos is to open two explorer windows. Put the photo folder location in one and the flashdrive in the other, highlight the images you want to move and drag them from one window to the other. They will copy across. Then if you wish, you can erase them from the original computer window.

You don't need the complexity of Flipboard and Edge which just adds another layer.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I just mentioned Flipboard and Edge to describe the big square where a number of things are like "news," "photos," etc. The square is a popup from the start menu in Windows 10. However, the place to select photos for sending to a flash drive or other media is Pictures under My PC. Once selected, right click and a menu will pop up with the "send to" option. That's all they needed to tell me. I didn't need any work done on my computer. Actually, if I did, the folks at BitDefender would do it for me for free. I've been very happy with BitDefender since I switched from McAfee. I've had no computer glitches since I made the switch. No freezes....nothing.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, the old "higher level of support," which may include a $5.00/minute charge. That's rather common, unfortunately. I think you'll get more and better help here than from MS. They're doing it to make money. We're doing it to be nice.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

At least with my 3 year MacBook warranty I can call them and get professional help. They were really yokels at Microsoft.

Budgiehawk

I get phone calls from someone with an Indian accent claiming to be from Microsoft and telling me my computer has problems that he should fix remotely.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I know that guy!!

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I had the occasion to contact MS support three weeks ago. I lost the right click context menu on Start (Win 10). I attempted all sorts of fixes, but was not able to resolve the issue. An MS Support technician worked for about 1.5 hours on my issue but she was not able to resolve it. She then indicated it had to be sent to the next level and it would cost $100. I said OK - it was worth the cost to me. They worked for 1.5 hours and could not resolve it and said Win 10 would have to be reinstalled. I did not want to do that so I was immediately refunded the $100 charge. MS support was terrific.

Eventually, I solved the issue myself by recovering a backup file via Acronis. I knew I was able to do that before contacting MS Support, but was trying to circumvent that solution.

I feel most of the "bad mouthing of MS" is out of anger and frustration with technology. However, I think it is misplaced anger. Most issues have not been caused by Microsoft. Computers are not intuitive. There is a very steep learning curve!! (yes with Apple too). Instead of embarking on a mission to learn about the technology of computers, many users are looking for shortcuts and instant learning. In my opinion, that route will eventually fail. I'm not attempting to criticize. I empathize with their frustrations, but I do grow weary of the assigning blame to Microsoft. (or Canon, Nikon, Samsung, Adobe ...) The frustrated users might first look at themselves. It is not easy to take responsibility for "my part" in causing failure. It is always simpler to look at "the other guy". However, it may not always be an honest evaluation.

SteveR: This is not aimed at you or at any other UHHer. It is my editorial comment. I hope I have not offended anyone.

Mark

daverc11

I know him too. His cousin is a Nigerian prince who would like to send me money.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

This scam has been around for several years. It should be widely known, but I still hear of people falling for it.

I'm afraid my language to them is not politically correct.

This sort of stuff, along with the credit card help calls, are why we are going to turn off our land line next month.

bjprovo Loc: Northeast CT

Sorry to tell you that we shut down our land line three years ago but still get these calls on our mobile phones.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

I have to agree with your "scam" assessment.

Recently MS pushed an upgrade to my computer running Win7, and started installing it without my consent, and I was powerless to interrupt it. My system is a bit complex with cached RAID and system drive that must be "uncached" while doing something as all-encompassing as a major OS upgrade.

I let the process take its course, figuring if it failed I could roll it back. It failed, with two options - roll back the install, or "advanced options." I selected the former. After the system restarted, it failed to boot. The process of installing Win10 ignored the caching, and disrupted the master boot record, and corrupted the partition table.

After trying several remedies, including attempting to invoke the backup partition table and MBR, I called MS tech support. They had me try a dozen things I had already tried.

After 2 hrs the support rep finally gave up and suggested an escalation. I agreed, and she asked for a credit card number in order to set up an incident number and access to higher level tech support. I asked why. She said it was standard operation procedure, and that if it was their problem, the $500 support charge would be reversed. I told her that this was extortion, or put another way, it was like having a dump truck plow into my parked Prius, and demanding a fee to get my car repaired.

I ended up fixing it myself, and when I got it back to booting I immediately purchased another hard drive to boot from, not trusting that MS cleanly rolled back the installation. I had some live data, but also hundreds of programs that I needed to reinstall and couldn't risk a drive loss, even though I had a backup. BTW, MS's disaster recovery disk didn't work. Yeah, I agree it's a scam.

wjones8637 Loc: Burleson, TX

My first question...Why would you install Windows on a Mac???

Bill